In a future that should never have been, Kuroto Dan has truly become a king. Though he isn't the benevolent kind of ruler that Sougo Toukiwa wishes to be, he sees a lesson to be learned from the one time gaming CEO. Much more surprisingly though, is that Kuroto reached this point using the powers of OOO! Chosen by the Time Jackers to become king, Kuroto Dan has become Another OOO! Luckily for our heroes Geiz has acquired the GenM Ridewatch, and travelling to 2016 will fight the Bugster God before his corrupted future can take place. With the powers of a somewhat insance game developer at his beck and call, Kamen Rider Geiz GenM Armor arrives!

Packaging
Like all Zi-O themed releases, Geiz GenM Armor comes in a standard fair web exclusive box. Nothing terribly special to see here, just something with a subdued color scheme that will fit in well with the rest of your Zi-O collection.

Main Figures
Following up from the first Rider Armor for Zi-O (Build Armor) Tamashii Nations has taken a crack at Geiz as well with the GenM Armor. While not my first choice for Geiz, I understand that GenM/Kuroto Dan's popularity make this choice a no brainer. I would have liked to see his debut Rider Armor (Ghost) or possibly one of his other more common Armors like Driver or Faiz, but this is an acceptable choice in my book as well.

Given my real love for the GenM suits and character behind them, I was pretty excited to see this release myself. And with Zi-O Build Armor having turned out so well, this release seemed like a sure win for Tamashii. Like Zi-O Build, Geiz GenM is essentially the core Geiz figure with an armor application to the outer layers. Essentially Zi-O & Geiz are the same mold anyway with minor cosmetic differences, in this case Geiz GenM is an almost identical mold to Zi-O Build with about as many cosmetic changes as the base molds. That said, much of my review will be the same as the Build Armor one.

At first glance GenM Armor appears to be very mechanical/bulky, seemingly less dynamic. But the armor belies it's great articulation. Even though the layout is identical to the Build Armor, this one feels a bit more flexible somehow. Like Build, the GenM Armor can execute wide and stable poses thanks in no small part to the feet. In this case the feet are a bit wider and thicker, covering more ground and just making this figure solidly stable. The perfect toe bends accent this, and while the ankles have minor limitations because of the skirt around them, they just work really well. The extra layer of armor on the legs doesn't considerably bulk anything up to impact articulation, in fact it's hardly noticeable. So you manage to get the same great hips, and knees that can still hit about a 45 degree angle.

Like with the base figures, GenM Armor comes with the Ziku Driver attached. At the scale this figure is, the Ziku Driver still manages to be one of the better and more functional Drivers out there. The Driver itself can rotate a full 360 degrees like the show prop and DX toy. The read out is permanently set to the year 2016, being the year Geiz traveled to in order to defeat Another OOO, obtaining GenM's power along the way. Each side of the Driver can also accept a Ridewatch. The left facing side of the driver comes with the Geiz Ridewatch pre-set. As with all the ride watches attached to this figure, none of them have properly painted rider faces. Each opts for a simple base paint job, though the details of proper watches are sculpted very nicely into each face. And like base Geiz, the only watch molded in active positions are those already attached to the Driver. 3 of the wrist mounted watches are dormant blanks, while one on the left wrist is clearly intended to be the Drive Ridewatch. Though one should also theoretically be the Ride Striker watch. On the right facing side of the Driver however is an active GenM Ridewatch. While focused on the waist I also want to talk about the small pieces of hip armor on either side of the driver. I was certain these would impact posing but was pleasantly surprised to see that they fully rotate as with the Build Armor release.

Believe it or not, that upper body is almost entirely just the normal Zi-O/Geiz mold. The layer of armor on top is really just an aesthetic change. The ab section with the watch band is nigh identical. The upper body has merely been remolded to reflect the Ex-Aid era Rider Gauge. Articulation will be identical to the Build Armor here as well, though again it feels a bit more free and loose in a good way. The side to side motion of the upper body in particular just feels really good. The arms do actually have a bit more bulk to them thanks to the armor as well. Black armor accents the Ridewatch holsters and biceps. While very nicely sculpted ornamental Proto-Mighty Action X Gashats adorn the shoulders! These are probably the most surprising bit about the figure, I fully expected these shoulders to kill the articulation, but like Build Armors Full Bottle shoulders, they work just fine. As with so many figuarts they're on a hinge which slides down and out enough to accommodate the inward and upward motion of the actual shoulder joint. You don't really lose anything from these shoulders at all even compared to regular Zi-O. I'd like to mention that I am very much into the armored look the hands now have too, though its far less noticeable than Build Armor thanks to the lack of silver paint. Clearance for the wrists is just about the same as standard Geiz as well and thanks to the included hands that means you've got a few options to display this figure.

Finally GenM Armor's head is a really brilliant amalgamation of both the Geiz & GenM designs. The iconic Ex-Aid/Genm/Mighty Action X hair is prominent and looking very sharp. Geiz's visor, which traditionally spells our "Rider" in hiragana, now reads "GenM in large yellow compound characters. This is a pretty striking look that's helped along by the GenM style white outline on the eyes as well. It's really a look that brings together what would otherwise be mostly vague color references to the GenM suit. But the head (hair in particular) along with the Rider Gauge really invokes the spirit of Kuroto Dan.

Accessories
Unfortunately Geiz GenM Armor comes with very few accessories, just a couple pairs of hands. Making a figure more expressive with a good set of hands is always great, but lacking any other accessories can be a detriment. This form only appeared in two episodes (9 & 10) and didn't use any unique accessories or weapons. This armor is physically identical to Zi-O's Ex-Aid Armor, which itself has two Gashacon Breaker Breakers in show. Since that doesn't exist as a figure yet, I suppose it's unreasonable to expect the GenM Armor to include them, even though it never utilized them. But that's really the only thing a figure like this could come with. In that absence I would have appreciated some extra Ridewatches or more sets of hands. Something is better than nothing.

Final ThoughtsKamen Rider Geiz GenM Armor is another expected but welcome addition to the Zi-O family of releases. I'd imagine it's a precursor to the obvious Ex-Aid repaint happening, but who knows. Aside from things like Zi-O II, Decade Armor, & Geiz Revive coming up, we haven't really seen a hint of anything else as far as Rider specific armors coming our way. If this and Build Armor are all we ever get, I may be a bit disappointed. But for the time being this is a stylish, if tiny bit underwhelming, figure to add to my Zi-O collection.

I think one of his wrist watches is supposed to be the Ride Striker watch; given the different shape and details. Odd especially when he had the Faiz and Wizard watches by this point in the show; but oh well. It's hardly like you can tell with their dedication to not even having stickers.

As always, good job of getting a lot of shots out of this figure. I don't like it as much as Zi-O Build but you really go a long way in making that preference difficult

I'd be really surprised if they announced any more Ridearmours down the line, but at least this shows that they'd do a pretty good job with them. Granted the molding on the two were have so far isn't drastically different from regular Zi-O and Geiz, so I really look forward to how they do the Decade Armour.

This is a nice figure. It's weird how I find myself simultaneously impressed with some little details (the fingertips) and repelled by others (which I've mentioned ad nauseam.) Not my favorite RideArmor; I expect cost as much as anything explains why they chose this one.